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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25730626">Blizzard Wishes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yogurt_Tea/pseuds/Cherry_Tea'>Cherry_Tea (Yogurt_Tea)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Amnesia (Game &amp; Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hypothermia, Lowkey a sick fic, Post Joker World Normal End</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:15:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,800</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25730626</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yogurt_Tea/pseuds/Cherry_Tea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In the months after her university burned down. The Heroine searches for memories she lost of August, still mourning the loss of a the man she knew as Ukyo. Walking home alone in the snow she makes a wish.</p><p>  <i>“I wish… I had someone by my side."</i></p><p>Then she finds a boy facedown in a snowdrift in front of her apartment.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Heroine &amp; Orion (Amnesia), Heroine/Orion (Amnesia)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Blizzard Wishes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Heroine puts one foot in front of the other, as she heads home.</p><p>The moon had already rose into the night sky when the Heroine walks home. it does in the early winter months. Her breath leaves wispy clouds in the frosty air.</p><p>She idles for a moment, savoring the beauty of the snowfall in the light of the streetlamp.</p><p>She wonders if Ukyo had liked the snow. There were so many things she never asked him. She shakes her head, trying to shake the thought out of her head. She has to move on. She can't mourn forever. She has to live for his sake.</p><p>She kicks a snowdrift. Momentarily frustrated. It was as if the gods themselves had thought this was a cruel joke to play on her. There were plenty of happy couples in the world, why couldn’t she and Ukyo have been one of them? Why did she have to be left alone after his death? Why should she have to grieve while the news claimed he was a suicide arsonist?</p><p>She refuses to burden her friends with her grief, yet she doesn't know how much longer she can keep up a cheery attitude. This should have been a happy time, time she could have spent with her lover. Free time to be a disgustingly romantic couple.</p><p>Instead, she'll be spending Christmas alone.</p><p>She turns her head to the heavens taking in the tranquil view of thousands of snowflakes outlined in the streetlamp.</p><p>The crosswalk turns green for her, but she remains on her standing there, gaze transfixed on the streetlamp.</p><p>Her anger sizzles out to and leaves an emptiness in it’s wake. She wishes she wasn't walking alone at night in a snowstorm. She wishes she had someone to point to the halo of snow surrounding the streetlamp. Someone to start an inappropriate snow fight. To enjoy hot chocolate with after getting drenched in the snow. To be there so she wouldn't have to come home to am empty apartment. To have company that won't leave her when the shift ends, or when the sun sets.</p><p>“I wish… I had someone by my side."</p><p>A car zooms past her. She blinks, the crosswalk light was red for her again.</p><p>Flurries of snow descend upon the landscape. Without a whipping wind, the snow falls peacefully but in staggering amounts. She can't suck in a single breath without getting a mouthful of snowflakes. The weather report was right after all. She wished she brought a hat, her hair is already getting damp from the snow.</p><p>She missed the warmth of summer. Even though she knew she would miss winter once the scorching heat had returned next summer, it didn’t stop her from cursing the current cold. She didn’t even remember the whole duration of August. She had been cheated of an entire month of summer, it was completely in her right to grumble about the sudden onset of the freezing season.</p><p>It was easier to complain about missing summer than thinking about how much her lost memories haunted her. An entire month worth of memories wiped clean from her mind. She few memories she did have of August didn’t belong to her, they were memories told to her from her friends or given to her through the news.</p><p>Majority of amnesia only occurs in one of two scenarios. Blunt force trauma to the skull, and psychologically traumatic events. She is a Psychology major, it's the least she should know.</p><p>She knew something was wrong when she woke up on what she thought was August 1st. Bandages covered burns on her leg she never remembered getting. Medicine for those burns and a receipt were left on the kitchen counter. Then when she turned on the television, she saw the burned remains of her university.</p><p>For a brief moment, she thought she had went insane and set her school on fire. Then the news reported a body of the arsonist who committed suicide. The news scared her. Was it just a coincidence she had these burns the day right after?</p><p>She learned at work that she had lost her memory of the entire month. And of someone named Ukyo. A name she had shed tears over when she couldn't even remember what the owner of the name looked like.</p><p>She had been trying to investigate the events of August when she had stumbled upon a photo album Ukyo had given to her propped up innocently on a shelf. Every memory of Ukyo prior to August had rushed back into her. His shy laugh, his oddly polite demeanor, the way his nose scrunched up when he's trying to get the perfect angle for his photo. She was overjoyed to remember him. Wanting to see him again, she had tried calling him on his mobile phone multiple times. She left three voicemails. But he never answered.</p><p>Then the news reported the identity of the burned body.</p><p>It was a punch to the gut to hear his death spoken with such flippancy. How easily he was dismissed as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Described as a sociopath who had appeared completely normal on the surface, but had been secretly harboring an unhinged arsonist side.</p><p>The following months of September, October and November she had tried to find an alternative to Ukyo's guilt. She took the semester off from college. She tried to find evidence to prove Ukyo's innocence but she couldn't. In fact, the more she looked, the more guilty he looked. During August, he had been reported stalking around the area, acting suspicious by many of the nearby residents. Friends of his mentioned how he had completely stopped responding to texts or calls. Nothing definite, but sounding more and more like the tip of an iceberg she could never hope to uncover.</p><p>At the end of it all, she couldn't prove anything. She grieved, but more than that, she was obsessed. She couldn’t let it go. It had made her more of a more cynical person. Ukyo probably wouldn’t have recognized the woman she had become. It doesn’t matter. She only needed to know what had truly happened to Ukyo. The only thing she had left to try and hope for was a hint hidden in the memories she had lost.</p><p>But no matter how many months passed, she didn't remember anything more from that month of August.</p><p>She would never know the truth about what happened to the kind lover she had known as Ukyo.</p>
<hr/><p>She turns the corner onto her home street. She can see the apartment complex from here. Only a bit longer before she can return to the comfort of a heated home and out of the cold. Her eyes catch onto a colorful stripe of blue sticking out of a snowdrift front of the building. Maybe the wind blew some scrap of trash there. It wasn’t there this afternoon when she left, but she can see it's already getting buried by the snow. The closer she gets, the more confused she becomes.</p><p>A few feet away, she finally understands the sight in front of her.</p><p>It's a person.</p><p>Her breath catches. The figure lying face-down in the snowdrift is already covered in a thin layer of snow. And it isn’t an adult, the form is too small. It’s a child.</p><p>She rushes over, immediately brushing the snow off the child, feeling only the slightest tinge of cold through her gloved hands.</p><p>"Hello!? Are you okay?" When she pushes off more snow, she notices the child is only wearing a light summer jacket, pants too thin for the cold, and a startlingly bright, blue scarf. The blue that she had seen when she had been walking down the street. Her brain hardly registers the sight of his abnormally silver colored hair.</p><p>She turns him over onto his back, seeing a deathly white face buried in a scarf. Her heart stops.</p><p>She gently shakes the boy again, “Can you hear me?” Her heart thrums quickly in panic, “Please say something...!” Is this really how her day ends? Her finding a dead child outside of her apartment? She’ll have to call the police. That’s for sure. Then she’ll be called into the station to report. They’ll ask so many questions that will eat up all the hours of the night. By the time she gets out she’ll have to start getting prepared for work. All because some child didn’t dress properly out in the cold.</p><p>The kid blearily blinks at her, knocking her out of her trance. He mumbles words she can hardly understand through the scarf, “nn-No-it's okay. I-” he mutters more incomprehensible gibberish, “-waiting for...” The rest of what he say is lost between the folds of the scarf.</p><p>She pauses, getting out her phone out, "I'm going to call the ambulance, okay?" They can take care of it from there.</p><p>As if woken from a trance, the previously half-unconscious boy jerks himself as he grabs the edge of her jacket, "No! You can't!" the scarf falls, revealing his face to her.</p><p>Her mouth goes dry. A shocking rush of familiarity hits her. This isn’t a stranger staring at her. She knows this child. She recognizes his face. Just as she had temporarily forgotten Ukyo to remove the trauma, it felt as if she had done the same thing to this boy.</p><p>"Don't do that... it won’t help." he pleads again, softer. She focuses her attention back onto him. If he’s a lead to her lost memories, then she can’t turn him over to a hospital. This boy doesn’t want to go likely because of some kind of legal trouble he’s trying to escape from. In that case, he could get shuffled off to some orphanage far away where she wouldn’t be able to reach him again.</p><p>She puts her phone back into her pocket.</p><p>“Okay, I won’t call the ambulance.” She says slowly. Questions are already churning through her head. Who is this boy? Why does she recognize him? Does he recognize her? Could he possibly be the answer she had been looking for?</p><p>He nods, closing his eyes, “Good. We can’t go to the hospital. It would be more dangerous there than anywhere else.” He drops the edge her jacket from his hands and plops backwards onto the snowdrift.</p><p>She blinks. What is he talking about?</p><p>“Did you get locked out of your apartment?" She tries instead. Perhaps he was one of the tenants in the apartment and that was why she recognized him.</p><p>He tilts his head, giving her a confused look.</p><p>“The apartment,” she repeats, pointing to the apartment building, “Are you waiting for your parents to come home?”</p><p>“I don’t know, I was just relaxing.”</p><p>Her brows furrow. He was asleep in the snow, in nothing that looked remotely like winter gear, “In only that? Aren’t you cold?”</p><p>He giggles as if she had told a joke, “I”m only as cold as you are.” His smile diminishes as he says it, “Speaking of which, aren’t you a bit too cold?”</p><p>“I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about you.”</p><p>He doesn’t appear to hear her, instead squinting at her face, “Wait... you can hear me?”</p><p>“Yes?” They’ve been talking for about a minute now, is this a trick question? Maybe the boy is drunk. It would explain the inappropriate clothing and the strange behavior.</p><p>He reaches out and touches her knee, “How...?” she snaps her attention back to him. He looks amazed, as if he didn’t believe she was tangible. Even through her pants she can feel his fingers trembling. No- that’s not right- shivering. Shivering violently.</p><p>Alarm tenses her muscles. This was no place to have a conversation. Not with the whipping wind and the snow determined to bury the both of them. It had almost succeeded burying one of them at least.</p><p>“We should go inside.” She says, before quickly adding, “I can make you a hot chocolate and get you a blanket.”</p><p>He shakes his head sleepily, “Can’t drink it.” She’s opens her mouth to argue but he continues. “You’re right though, we should go inside.” He stands to his feet, only staggering slightly.</p><p>“We can wait in my apartment until your parents come home.” She grabs his arm, gently but firmly and starts pulling him toward her apartment door. He doesn’t argue. Good.</p><p>They don’t exchange words on the short walk to her apartment. She lets go of his arm to fish for the keys in her purse. Soon after, she unlocks the door and she gestures for him to go in first.</p><p>"Oh, thanks." he mumbles. He walks ahead of her, and enters her apartment. This stranger who may hold the key to the memories she had been missing.</p><p>He unzips his jacket while she removes her winter gloves. While her reddened hands are freed from the gloves, she sees almost paper white arms and plain teal t-shirt revealed. She frowns. His outfit was something made for the summer season, not for winter. Maybe the boy mistakened alcohol’s buzz as actual warmth.</p><p>“I can take your jacket for you if you want.” She offers, when she notices him clutching the jacket awkwardly to his chest.</p><p>He turns to her, his frown quickly forming into a smile, “Oh! Thank you that would be great!”</p><p>She purses her lips. This boy had to be drunk. The dopey smile and the odd cheerfulness seems unnatural in this situation. Plus the fact he obviously had no self-preservation skills to just blindly trust a stranger and walk into her home.</p><p>When his jacket touches her hands she gasps. She nearly drops it. It was no different to holding a handful of snow. Frozen cold. She couldn’t tell before because of her gloves when she had shaken him awake earlier, but his jacket was slicked with ice and slightly damp. The thin material in her hands was a horrible thing to wear with the icy wind outside.</p><p>He’s squatting down to carefully take off his sneakers. Converse sneakers, she thinks absentmindedly. He fumbles with the laces, confused and uncoordinated. She is just about to offer him help when he finally loosens the left shoe. He takes it off quickly. He sways a bit before he stands back up, still wearing his right shoe.</p><p>One moment he is standing, the next moment, he falls backward. He lands with a dull thud.</p><p>"Hey!" Startled, she rushes over to his fallen form, not noticing her own boots trudging in snow.</p><p>“-m fine.” He waves her off, slowly sitting back up,. “I only tripped.” He giggles as if it’s funny, “Why do you look scared? Everything’s fine.”</p><p>Cursing softly, she puts a hand against his cheek. The unnatural coldness she feels only confirms what she had long suspected.</p><p>Hypothermia.</p><p>Before her mind can catch up, her body is already moving, helping him back to his feet.</p><p>“You’re too cold.” She’s already guiding him by the arm towards her bed, “You need to warm up right now.”</p><p>Hypothermia. She should have realized it sooner. He was wearing clothes that wouldn’t keep him warm on a mild fall day, much less a harsh winter day.</p><p>A stab of genuine worry hits her. She didn’t want anything to happen to this boy.</p><p>“...Having a body is weird.” The boy murmurs absently. He seems to understand what she wants though, because he pulls back the blankets and crawls into her bed. He does it slowly, as if he understood the concept of it, but never done it himself. He’s sitting up in the bed, staring blankly at the blankets pulled back.</p><p>Growing impatient, she grabs the blankets herself and wraps them up to his shoulders, ignoring the fact he was still wearing one wet shoe in her bed. She turns on the switch to the electric blanket, turning the dial to the highest heat setting.</p><p>“I’ll be right back, okay? Just stay put there.”</p><p>He nods, still looking moderately confused.</p><p>Having only a vague idea what to do, she hurries over to the kitchen. She turns her attention to a drawer besides the sink. She fishes around the clutter of bandages and various pills before finding what she was looking for, a digital thermometer. She turns on the hot water of the sink and rinses the thermometer with a quick splash. She heads back to the bed where her impromptu patient resides.</p><p>He’s exactly where she had left him, in bed. He has the blankets pulled tighter around himself than before.</p><p>“Excuse me,” She starts, “But could you stick this under your tongue? I need to take your temperature.”</p><p>He nods, wordlessly pulling a hand out of his cocoon to take the thermometer extended to him. Thank god this boy was so amicable. She had half-expected to have to put up a fight to get him to do it.</p><p>It takes only a minute before the thermometer beeps. He takes it out, looking fairly puzzled trying to read the numbers on the thermometer. She leans over and plucks it from his fingers. It reads 32.8<span class="js-about-item-abstr">°</span>C. Her heart drops. She’d never seen a reading that low before. Granted, she’s only taken her own temperature when she thought she had a fever, but it was still far lower than the average of 37.0<span class="js-about-item-abstr">°</span>C.</p><p>“It’s that bad?” He asks, obviously seeing the dismay in her face.</p><p>“It’s not great.” She answers truthfully, “Why don’t you go to sleep? Your body needs to rest.” It would also give her more time to think about what to do next.</p><p>“That makes sense... that’s what I’ve heard before.” He pulls the blankets up over his head, to the point he’s completely buried in blankets save for a few silver strands of hair.</p><p>Silver hair. How could she forget someone like that? Maybe he dyed his hair to that unnatural silver and it’s throwing her off. But why would he waste resources on hair product when he didn’t even have a jacket to keep himself warm?</p><p>She shakes the thought away, there was something she has to do first.</p><p>She pulls out her phone, quickly typing out a text.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Sawa, are you still up?</p>
</blockquote><p>It’s only takes a few seconds for the response</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>yeah, im always up this late</em>
  </p>
  <p>Oh good. Could I ask you a favor?</p>
  <p>
    <em>wow! rare of you to ask for a favor, but id be happy to help.</em>
  </p>
  <p>I can’t come into work tomorrow, could you cover my shift?</p>
  <p>
    <em>oh thats it? thats no problem. morning shift, right?</em>
  </p>
  <p>Yes. Tomorrow I’m supposed to work the morning. Thank you.</p>
  <p>
    <em>youve covered me like twice in the past month, its the least i could do.</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>plus i know you wouldnt ask if it wasnt serious</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>so whats up? you ok?</em>
  </p>
  <p>I'll be fine. Don't worry about me.</p>
  <p>
    <em>you said that last time and i had to hear from mine that you were in the hospital</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>i dont want to bring up a sore subject, but you really scared me last time</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>you promised you wouldnt hide anything serious from me anymore</em>
  </p>
  <p>It's fine.</p>
</blockquote><p>She types out quickly. She doesn’t know if Sawa knows this kid, but in order to find out, she’d have to admit she found a half frozen drunk outside her apartment and impulsively took him because of a hunch. It might be easier to ask the boy if he knows her friends instead.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>okay, if you say so</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>good luck</em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>Even through the text, she can feel the disappointment emanating from Sawa. She pushes down her feelings of guilt. She can make it up to Sawa another day.</p><p>She sits herself on the floor before pulling up a search browser on her phone, searching up ‘Hypothermia.’ She taps the first result.</p><p>Her selected article displays a list of symptoms underneath varying severity. She skims through it and learns the stranger in her bed didn’t reach hospital levels of hypothermia. He may have been unconscious when she found him, but he quickly responded when she nudged him. According to this, he’ll be mostly recovered by morning.</p><p>She sighs in relief. Delirious as he may have been, he had very clearly asked her not to take him to a hospital. She assumes his desperation was due to legal consequences with his guardians. Not a problem for her, it makes it easier to get her answers if he’s not shuffled off somewhere after the hospital. If he’s avoiding the law like this, it would be a nightmare to try and get a hold of him again.</p><p>She’s about to shut off her phone when another sentence catches her eye.</p><p>“In severe enough cases of hypothermia, the afflicted will have decreased blood flow to the brain, resulting in an almost drunk state of being. They cannot think properly for themselves and will need external help to prevent more permanent damage.”</p><p>Could the boy’s delirium have been due to hypothermia, and not to inhibition? She didn’t smell any alcohol on him. But in that case, why would he have been unconscious outdoors, in a <em>blizzard</em>, with a summer jacket on? That didn’t seem like anything a sane person would try. Not if they had a choice.</p><p>She shivers. She doesn’t like the implications.</p><p>While taking kids off the streets isn't the smartest thing to do, he would have frozen to death if she hadn’t intervened. Even if it was a rash short term decision, there was no way she could have left him alone there to die. It was a selfish reason she brought him into her home instead of a proper medical facility, but she is still helping him, was it so much that she wanted to ask a few questions in return?</p><p>Her eyes slowly drift closed. While she might not remember this boy, she assumes he must have least some vague memory of her. Even if it was something as simple as talking in the park one time, it would still be crucial for her to know what had happened. Just from having Ukyo’s name and being able to look him up, she had regained so many memories. If she was lucky, this boy could have the trigger memory that could cascade into full recall.</p><p>Her last thought before drifting to sleep is if she would regret trusting this child.</p>
<hr/><p>She wakes to the sound of a yelp followed by what sounded like a pot clattering onto the floor. She opens her eyes groggily. Was she babysitting Sawa's dog again? She moves to sit up from her bed, but realizes she's not in her bed, and is instead lying on her carpeted floor. There's a blanket she doesn't remember draped on top of her. She pulls it off, staring at it. The remaining residues of sleep quickly ebb away. She glances toward her empty bed, and the memories if the previous night rush back to her.</p><p>A stranger is in her home. And judging from the sounds, they're rifling through her belongings.</p><p>She curses at her own naivety. Even if he was a child who was obviously freezing to death, she had let her guard down. What had she been thinking? Just because she recognized him, didn’t mean she could trust him. Why did she sleep in like this? What type of careless air-head does that?</p><p>She stands up, throwing the blanket away onto the floor. She stalks her way over to her kitchen. Getting closer, she can hear the sink running. Right at the entrance, she stops, cautiously peering around the corner to see if her guest is armed. There were plenty of knives in there he could easily grab to arm himself.</p><p>He has his back to her and his right hand underneath the running water. Her kitchen looks just as she left it, except the teapot on the floor and a cup with steam emanating from it.</p><p>Her guest is making tea.</p><p>Her shoulders lose some of their tension, and the floor makes an audible creak to prove it.</p><p>Her guest whips his head around at the sound, "Oh! Good morning!” He turns off the running water and fully turns to her, smiling, “Glad to see you’re awake!”</p><p>The remaining tenseness in her body fades, he isn’t going to hurt her. He sounds so genuinely cheerful she almost feels bad for doubting him.</p><p>She glances at his hands, he’s not holding a weapon, his hands are just wet from the sink.</p><p>“You’re still here.” She marvels, not meaning to say it aloud.</p><p>His smile falls, “Was I supposed to leave?”</p><p>“That’s not what I meant.” she says quickly, “You can stay, I was just surprised.”</p><p>She steps into the kitchen, taking a seat at the small dining table, “Why don’t you take a seat?” she continues, “I want to talk to you.” He stares at her puzzled, “I promise I’m not going to hurt you.” she adds quickly, “I’m a friend.”</p><p>He shakes his head quickly, “Oh, that’s not it. This is just a lot of firsts for me.”</p><p>She’s curious, but she doesn’t ask him to elaborate. There were more important things she wanted to ask.</p><p>“If you don’t mind me asking,” she starts gently, “Why were you collapsed in front of the apartment?”</p><p>His mouth twists in a frown, “I— don’t know. I don’t even fully understand why I’m in your home right now. I can’t remember anything past talking to someone in the cold.” He takes a seat in the chair across from her, not touching the cup of tea.</p><p>“Do you know why you were alone in the cold in the first place?”</p><p>He shifts uncomfortably, “I... don’t remember.” He rubs his left hand. As if he’s trying to console himself.</p><p>She narrows her eyes, a bit suspicious “Do remember anything from before then?”</p><p>He pauses, looking anywhere but at her, “Um. Skip. I skip this question!” he answers in a light-hearted tone, a poor attempt at hiding his avoidance of answering the question.</p><p>She tries a different approach.</p><p>“Do you recognize me?”</p><p>This gets his attention. His head jerks to look directly at her, taken aback by her question “No... Why? Do you know me?”</p><p>She nods her head, “We met in August, don’t you remember?” She bluffs, hoping to bait him into answering</p><p>She expects something dramatic, maybe for him to jump from his seat or gasp. He just stares at her.</p><p>After a moment, he speaks, his voice is barely above a whisper, “How did we meet?” his expression filled with a dangerous hope.</p><p>She can tell he wants to believe her lie, but there’s still suspicion laced in his words.</p><p>Almost as if he knew she had forgotten him.</p><p>“Listen, you don’t need to worry. I forgot a lot of things during August, but I didn’t forget you.” She smiles again, “I wouldn’t take any stranger into my house, but you? That’s different.”</p><p>He blinks, “But that shouldn’t be impossible?” then he backpedals, “I mean, it was just—uhh— in the park one time! I didn’t think it was that memorable.”</p><p>For a kid who looks like he’s on the run, he sure is bad at lying.</p><p>“I remembered you the moment I saw you. You’re pretty unforgettable you know.” She smiles, pushing down the guilt attached to her lies.</p><p>He relaxes, and she can see he very badly wants to believe her. “I didn’t know what I was going to do... And thank you for saving me last night, I don’t want to imagine what would have happened if you didn’t help me.”</p><p>What is she doing? Even if she wanted her answers, was it worth manipulating the feelings of a child?</p><p>“Why don’t we sit down?” she says, already pulling out a chair for herself.</p><p>“Okay.” and he does the same for himself, sitting down, before suddenly standing back up again, “Oh! I almost forgot.” He pushes the cup of tea resting on the table toward her, “I know you always drink green tea in the morning so I thought I could try preparing it for you.” his smile becomes tinged with a bit of embarrassment “Although I accidentally spilled some of the hot water onto the floor earlier.” He laughs nervously, “But don’t worry! I cleaned it up and the teapot didn’t break or even get a dent!”</p><p>He talks so quickly and energetically. It’s a drastic change to the person she was talking to seconds before. Or maybe not, maybe this was nervous energy.</p><p>She takes the cup of tea from him, taking a sip from it, she smiles, “It’s delicious.” In truth, the tea bag had been over-steeped, and it made the green tea more bitter than it should have been.</p><p>He doesn’t notice her white lie, instead beaming at her with even more energy, “I’m happy to hear it! It’s the least I can do for you!”</p><p>He really seems to be a genuinely sweet boy. Another stab of guilt.</p><p>“So... let me ask again.” she starts, hoping for a different answer “Do you remember anything from before being left in the cold?”</p><p>His smile wavers a bit, “Not really... After I visited Lord Nhil—I mean— After I visited Nhil, I started to feel really sleepy so I lied down to take a nap and then... I woke up here.”</p><p><em>Lord</em> Nhil? She must be making a confused face because he continues,</p><p>“Oh... that’s right, you wouldn’t know. Nhil’s been very weak after the... after everything. I’ve been busy taking care of his duties. Don’t worry, I’m used to helping him out since he’s always been a bit lazy.”</p><p>If she’s to guess, this ‘Nhil’ is either this boy’s dad or his legal guardian.</p><p>“Wait,” she starts, “How bad is he?”</p><p>He looks down, “He’s doing okay. He’s still moving up and about, but he seems really depressed. He can’t do a lot of what he used to do. I keep trying to tell him to at least try, but he’s worried he’ll lose what little energy he has left.”</p><p>She pauses, trying to think what she wanted to ask next. She very badly wanted to ask what the boy’s name was, but there was no way she could ask that without him realizing she had lied about remembering him.</p><p>She tries for a safer question.</p><p>“Does Nhil know that you’re here?”</p><p>He frowns, obviously not having thought of that himself, “I don’t know. I don’t think he could, seeing as he can’t use any of his pow—” he stops himself, “Since he isn’t in any condition to move around.”</p><p>He keeps interrupting himself, is he trying to hide something?</p><p>“But...” the boy starts, “Maybe the reason I’m here is because...” his eyes bulge in horror, “...Did he lose...” he glances at her and then quickly looks away.</p><p>“If Nhil lost ‘that’— then!” He plants both hands on the table, half-standing up “Maybe we should go out and look for him right now— did you see anyone else nearby when you found me?”</p><p>“I didn’t see anyone else other than you.” She answers honestly. What is he saying? Is he implying that this Nhil was with him out in that cold?</p><p>“Then he could still be out there.” he mutters dazedly</p><p>Oddly enough, this doesn’t feel like a lost child trying to find their parent. It is the opposite really, a parent panicking over their lost child.</p><p>Suddenly he bows, “Thank you for your hospitality. I really appreciate it, you saved my life.”</p><p>She stands too, “Wait. You’re not thinking of going back out there, are you?”</p><p>“I have to, if something happened to him, I'd never forgive myself.”</p><p>The one clue to her memories is trying to walk away, but oddly enough, that isn’t at the forefront of her mind.</p><p>“It’s too cold out there." she blurts out, "If you go out there like that again you’ll freeze.” She tenses, ready to block the exit in a moments notice. “You trust this Nhil right? I’m sure he’s able to take care of himself out there. You’re the one in danger.”</p><p>If this Nhil was in the same condition as her guest was last night, there’s no way he could still be alive. Not unless someone intervened like she did for her guest. She didn't need to tell her guest that, though.</p><p>The boy seems to struggle with this thought, “But... he’s always gotten himself into bad situations and I’m supposed to help him whenever that happens. I can’t abandon him now.”</p><p>Definitely sounds like a parent panicking over a child.</p><p>“Before we rush out without thinking, why don’t we make a plan on where to look and think this over calmly over breakfast?” She suggests, “If this takes longer than a few hours, we want to have energy for a longer search.”</p><p>After a tense moment, he sighs, sitting back down.</p><p>“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make a fuss this early in the morning. You’re right, I’m just worried about him.”</p><p>She tries to hide her surprise. She had expected more of a fight. He backed down rather quickly.</p><p>“Does rice work for you?”</p><p>“It does.”</p><p>Neither of them say anything else.</p><p>She gets a bowl of yesterday’s rice from the fridge, pushing it into her microwave, and putting it in for a single minute. The humming coming from it is the only sound in the kitchen.</p><p>One minute passes.</p><p>The microwave beeps.</p><p>Another minute and there’s a bowl filled with rice set in front of the boy.</p><p>“Are you going to have anything?” he asks her.</p><p>She shakes her head, “I’m not hungry.” She puts a pair of chopsticks on the table along with a rice seasoning, “I normally have breakfast a few hours after getting up.”</p><p>“Ah right.” He nods, “Thank you very much.” He picks up the chopsticks.</p><p>And then it immediately becomes clear he has no idea what he’s doing. He fumbles with the chopsticks, changing from incorrect grip to incorrect grip.</p><p>“...Do you want a spoon?” she offers.</p><p>He sheepishly laughs, “Yes, please.”</p><p>Was she supposed to know he couldn’t use chopsticks? Perhaps not, judging by the slight tint of red on his cheeks. She gets the spoon and hands it to him, receiving a quiet murmur of thanks in return.</p><p>When he puts the spoon to his mouth, he looks surprised. And suddenly he’s eating the rice at a rapid rate. Plain rice, that he didn’t even put seasoning on. In less than a minute, the whole bowl is empty.</p><p>“Thank you for the meal! It was delicious!”</p><p>“...You didn’t even put seasoning on it, wasn’t it bland?”</p><p>He blinks, and suddenly his face is redder than before, “Ahahaha... I um, guess anything tastes good when you haven’t eaten?”</p><p>He was a little strange, but she could tell he was a good kid. She smiles. While it’s been hectic, she can’t say it was all unpleasant.</p><p>He sets down the spoon, subconsciously wiping his mouth with the back of his other hand.</p><p>“Hey, I know you said you remembered me, but I have to ask.” He fidgets in his chair for a moment, “Can you tell me my name?”</p><p>She blanches. Why was he asking this out of the blue?! Did she say something that made him suspect she was lying. She has to talk her way out of this, quickly.</p><p>She frowns, “You say it as if you don’t trust me.”</p><p>“That’s not true! I do trust you, but...” he crosses his arms, turning slightly away from her, “You haven’t said my name once, there's a lot of small things that are off, and if you really remembered me, you would have asked me why—” he stops himself, “—You should have asked me a very important question.”</p><p>One question she should have asked?</p><p>“You mentioned not wanting to go to the hospital.” She starts, “Are you in legal trouble?"</p><p>“...No.” His face falls, disappointed, “I haven’t done anything illegal if that’s you’re asking.”</p><p>She frowns, while clearly not the important question he was hoping for, she could still pursue this topic, “You were passed out in the snow, wearing clothes unsuited for the outdoors and saying strange things.” She folds her hands together on the table, straightening her back to look more professional, “You don’t remember last night, and weren’t surprised when I brought it up either. Has this been happening a lot recently?”</p><p>He shakes his head, dismissing the notion immediately, “No, yesterday was a first for me.” He frowns, “But going back to the previous topic, you lied about remembering me?”</p><p>She sucks in a breath, “I recognize you, but I can’t remember you, in fact I can’t remember anything from August.” She looks away, “I’m sorry. You just seemed so on edge, I thought it would help if you thought you had a friend.”</p><p>“Ah, I understand." He nods, surprisingly not upset, "I had a feeling it was something like that...”</p><p>“But you do know me, right? Could you tell me how we met? Maybe it’ll help me remember you.”</p><p>He closes his eye and shakes his head, “I... don’t want to lie to you. And I would have to in order for you to believe anything I’d say.”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“Let’s just say we met in the park, okay? I really can’t get into it now.”</p><p>She purses her lips. It’s frustrating, but it’s clear she isn’t going to get anywhere if she pushed.</p><p>“So where are you going to go after this?”</p><p>His smile drops, and he looks away, “I don’t know yet.”</p><p>“What about Nhil? Aren’t you going to go back to him?”</p><p>“Um, I can’t. It’s complicated and I can’t really explain but short answer is, that’s impossible... Yikes. I’m going to have to figure out something quick, huh.”</p><p>“Do you want to stay with me?” she blurts out, surprising herself as much as him.</p><p>He blinks a few times, as if trying to process what she had just said, “I’m a complete stranger to you.” He says with disbelief, “You don’t know me at all, why would you offer something like that...? I could be a robber, or maybe try to frame you for smuggling or planning to lure you into a human trafficking—”</p><p>Her laughter cuts him off, “You don’t seem like the type to do any of that.” Her laughter dies dwon, “But I'm scared what would happen if I left you alone. I want to help, whether it’s taking you to a someone you trust or letting you stay here."</p><p>“Even after everything, you’re still too trusting...” He pouts, “And I can’t accept... I don’t want to burden you.”</p><p>"I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it." She says, only realizing at that moment that she had truly meant it. She had offered something she couldn’t take back, but shockingly, she had meant every word of it. Even if her mind didn’t remember him, her heart clearly did.</p><p>“Even if you say that, it’s not normal to just take people in!” he protests, “Even if I was an old friend of yours, offering something like that is... too much.”</p><p>“I was thinking that in exchange for staying here, you have to take care of household chores.”</p><p>He shakes his head, “That’s not enough.”</p><p>She swallows thickly. She didn’t know him, so why did she want him to stay so badly? Why didn’t it feel like a big deal to have him live with her? Why was the thought of her living alone in her small apartment so unbearable now?</p><p>Was she really that lonely?</p><p>“...Then when I come home, you have to be there to say ‘Welcome home!’” she feels embarrassed the second after she says it, but she continues, “Even if it’s a short while, I would be happy to have a roommate to help around. Plus, you need somewhere to stay, right?”</p><p>His expression softens, “If you mean it, I would really appreciate it.”</p><p>She smiles, oddly happy. Then she slaps her forehead when a thought occurs to her, “I don’t know your name.” she laughs at the realization, “Here I am letting you live with me, and I don’t even know your name!”</p><p>“Oh! That’s right, I didn’t re-introduce myself to you. I’m Orion!”</p><p>“Like the constellation?”</p><p>“Exactly!” he grins, happy she knew of it.</p><p>She returns his smile, his happiness is contagious, “Well I’m glad we were able to meet, Orion. I hope we get along well.”</p><p>“Same here!” He still looks slightly tense but his happiness seems genuine.</p><p>She takes a sip of the tea in her hands. It was bitter, and only lukewarm now, but it warmed her to the core.</p><p>She was happy.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Boy would I love someone to psychoanalyze why I wrote this fic because honest to god I don’t know what overtakes me sometimes. I wrote this back in December, and just polished it up for posting recently. I don’t have any plans to continue it right now, as this is kind of a small “what-if?” oneshot I wrote for fun. I might write another chapter for fun (or if any lovely readers want to read more) but more likely I'll polish the other 7+ Orion-centric oneshots I have hiding in my files ^^;;</p><p>Also it’s a canon fact, confirmed in the Amnesia Crowd fandisc, that Orion had no sense of taste as a spirit, even when he was connected with the Heroine, thus the whole excitement over eating bland rice. </p><p>Hope you enjoyed it regardless. Thank you for taking the time to read ♡</p></blockquote></div></div>
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